Tag Archives: Love Dances on the Green

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Today, after baking three loaves of banana nut bread, and two loaves of zucchini-cranberry-nut bread, I sat down and finished stitching the binding on this green quilt. So that’s two done, in between everything else. I am pretty tired today, having survived a week that never seemed to quit. I was preparing the lessons for my classes, as well as getting the lessons ready for my friend Judy, who’s subbing for me while I’m gone to visit my sister in Delaware (thanks again, Judy!). I should have been packing, but the bananas were rotting, and the zucchini had been waiting, so it was do or watch-the-bananas-die time.

I try to name all my quilts–maybe because I’m in love with words. I haven’t yet figured out a name for the bluesy quilt on the bottom of my bed. It’s that old thing of being too tired to allow for creativity to blossom thing. I know it will come in time.

But I’d already picked out the name for this one when I was sewing the patches together. I bought at a garage sale a very very old Quotations Book, with all sorts of old-fashioned little verses and famous quotes and one-liners. So I looked up “green” in the index, and came up with a little ditty by Scott, of which I clipped out the part I liked.

The quilt’s label (don’t hold your breath for when that will be done!) will read:

“In hamlets, [love] dances on the green.”

I have this memory of the tiniest little oval of green in a small town–hamlet–in Yorkshire, and on that little patch of green, some children were playing. It was just after a rainstorm, and a couple of families were out walking, enjoying the nice cool evening air. Dave and I sat in the car and watched, enjoying what we were seeing–knowing we’d never glimpse the same thing in Riverside, nor would there ever be this kind of green in our near-desert town. I didn’t dare take a photo–not wanting to declare myself a tourist. We watched, then headed on out back to our B & B (where I did take the photo below). So, in a way, this quilt evokes that memory of our trip to Yorkshire, where children “danced” on the green.

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This is the anniversary of when my daughter became engaged, her voice a bubbly fountain of joy on the phone as she told me. It was a counterpoint to my brother staggering up Manhattan through the ash and horror, caught as he was in the events for which we remember this day.
Life is always a mix; I remember them both on this day, September 11th.

I spent most of the day Thursday hitting the books, grading papers, logging in their grades online. Friday, I taught, smelled a gas leak (called The Gas Company), taught, reported that our phone wasn’t working (again)(but now it is, no worries), came home, met the Gas Man (passed with flying colors-no leak), missed an appointment to see a friend, graded some more, wrote vocabulary lists, fixed dinner, ate, watched The Number One Ladies Detective Agency (two episodes) with my husband, crashed. I also missed going to Quilt Night, a gathering of ladies that’s now going on about eight years. I was just too tired.

I am ready for a break.

So, I cut strips of fabric–so good to feel them in my hands again, and got to binding those quilts I’d finished early in summer. Hard to believe it’s taken me this long to get back to them.

The even-feed foot was on the machine, as this quilt came back from the quilter with mysterious gaps around the edges. The quilt, overall, is quilted beautifully, but these gaps? Turns out she didn’t want to go OVER the edge with her quilting, thinking she’d have to tie off every thread. She’s always done traditional machine quilting and this new “modern” quilting–an overall simpler pattern–is new to her. I do like my quilter because she’s willing to try something new, so I’ll just have to chat with her about heading to the edge and over. So I quilted in the gaps (which is one reason why it sat for so long, unbound).

I machine sewed it all on, pinned the corners, and now it’s downstairs waiting for me to hand-stitch the back of the binding down while we watch more episodes of the Number One Ladies Detective Agency. Can’t wait until tonight–bless Netflix.

More binding cut–but I ran out of the swirly greens, so had to use some other things.

This one’s going to go downstairs to the family room to join the other.

I also have some old movies that need watching. So nice to rest my brain from school. So nice to be touching the fabric again. So nice to have a break to do some different kind of labor.